


Shadowplay

by stealth camouflage (surrealist_cupcake)



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Gen, Heavily implied bbkaz, M/M, also very heavily implied bosselot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 08:23:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15311409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surrealist_cupcake/pseuds/stealth%20camouflage
Summary: A collection of scenes from the years between Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. Lots of Ocelot and Miller angst and conflict. We were robbed of 70s ocelot and disco era Miller so I'm here to rectify this.





	Shadowplay

  
“Can I help you sir?” A middle aged woman asked in a southern drawl. She wore a waitress uniform for the shitty diner Miller found himself standing outside off of i-95 south of Washington DC.  
  
“Just waiting around for an old military buddy. He’s um, not familiar with this area.” He said looking at the sky, it was dark and brewing a thunderstorm. He glanced down at his Rolex. He felt himself sweating through his long sleeve shirt. He regretted wearing polyester. The humidity on the East Coast of the United States always reminded him of where he grew up in Japan.  
  
Miller continued to pace around the sidewalk, kicking his bell-bottom clad legs nonchalantly. He’s gotten out of shape since the helicopter crash.  
  
When Ocelot finally arrived Miller half expected him to be dressed for a rodeo, based on the stories Snake had told, but Ocelot was surprisingly good at dressing to fit in when he had to. Of course he still wore cowboy boots. He didn’t look too out of place wearing jeans and a button up shirt with a vest.  
  
“Miller.” Ocelot said, shaking his hand with a smile.  
  
“You said twelve thirty.” Miller grumbled, he wasn’t as used to acting as the spy was. He was too on edge to play it cool around the Russian he had only previously had a single phone call with.  
  
They sat in a booth in the back of the diner and ordered coffee.  
  
“Well,” Miller said  
  
“Well what?” Ocelot said pausing to thank the waitress for the coffee. Miller paused until she left  
  
“What hospital is he at?” Miller asked.  Ocelot gave him a look. “You can’t tell me.” Miller answered his own question with a cold scoff, looking down at his coffee.  
  
“Eva’s in charge of that.” Ocelot said, taking a sip of his own, grimacing from the bitterness of the coffee.  
  
“But you have visited him?” Miller pressed. “How is he?” He looked up at Ocelot through his aviators.  
  
“It was a traumatic brain injury, a penetrative one. They’re giving him corticosteroids to make the swelling in his brain go down. He’s been stable since he was moved there.”  
  
“I don’t remember him being that close to the explosion, the medic was in front of him. I guess my memory of it got messed up. Do they... do they have any idea of a prognosis?. Zero... he.... said he’d wake up.” _God_ , he thinks to himself, _I sound like a concerned wife._  
  
“It’s impossible to say, Miller.”  
  
“You know I haven't had any fucking news since April. It’s god damn June.”  
  
“Well, get used to it. I don't have to explain to you how vital it is to keep him secret. I'll send along updates. I'm here as a favor. You wanna have the business up and running once he wakes up don't you? You can't go back to operating in Latin America.”

 

Miller sighs.

 

“He usually took care of the recruitment, or rather inspired people to join. I got us jobs, but it was with his reputation. I don’t have that to go off of anymore.” He knows he’s opening up too much. The spy will probably use it against him. _Keep it about business Miller. Ignore the fact that you’ve barely been able to sleep thinking about Snake and haven’t been able to talk to anyone about him for months._

 

“You still have the reputation. You spread the legend he began. American and Soviet soldiers, they talk about him like he’s a myth. I’ll bet you with the conflicts in the “Third World” being fuelled by the powers that be, that legend spreads. Your group? The men you’ve got? He trained all of you, did he not? It’s Guerilla warfare, same as everywhere.” Ocelot says. Miller sees the way Ocelot lights up talking about Snake. Sure, everyone talks that way about Snake, but, It occurs to him that the Russian knew Snake before Miller, even before Big Boss. He’s not sure what to think about that, coupled with the Russian’s involvement with Cipher.  
  
“So where's the money?” Miller asks, shaking away his previous train of thought.  
  
“Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, you name it.”  
  
“That far away eh? Getting set up outside of the Americas is gonna require capital. I've only got a handful of survivors to work with.”  
  
“I'm only telling you where to look. Wouldn't be hard to set yourselves up in Rhodesia, maybe Mozambique to start with.”  
  
“There's more than one rebel group there, don't know how good for business it would be to work for them both.”  
  
“The Soviet Union is giving support to any marxist guerrilla group they can find.”  
  
“What about Detente?”  
  
“Detente can't last forever, SALT II is going nowhere. Get in while the proxy wars are hot. How many guys _do_ you have?”  
  
“There's only fourteen of us.”  
  
“Enough to conduct small scale operations.” Ocelot said pulling an envelope out of his vest “A last gift from Zero. Just enough to get you back on your feet. You're the businessman, I trust you'll manage it well.” Ocelot puts some cash on the table to cover their coffee and a tip.  
  
“Give me updates on how he's doing, will you?” Miller says coldly  
  
“Will do.” Ocelot says leaving into the thunderstorm.  
  
Miller looks out the window, he had half a mind to get in his rental car and follow the Russian.

 

What would Snake think about Miller taking a blank cheque of truce money from Zero and Ocelot? Miller knows he can’t afford to think like that. He has to think about rebuilding, survival. This is just a sacrifice he has to make.  


**Author's Note:**

> I haven't posted fic in a while but lots of love to people who have left kudos and stuff on my other fics. I'm not very confident at writing fiction so it means a lot.


End file.
